In its third decade of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Madison McCafrey of Fairfield Ludlowe High School as its 2010-11 Gatorade Connecticut Volleyball Player of the Year. McCafrey is the first Gatorade Connecticut Volleyball Player of the Year to be chosen from Fairfield Ludlowe High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes McCafrey as Connecticut's best high school volleyball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year award announced in December, McCafrey joins an elite alumni association of past state volleyball award winners, including USA Volleyball Olympians Kim Glass (2001-02, Horseshoe HS, Penn.), Kim Willoughby (1998-99, 1999-00, Assumption HS, La.) and Ogonna Nnamani (1999-00, University HS, Ill.).

The 5-foot-9 senior middle blocker and outside hitter recorded 503 kills, 471 digs, 107 service aces and 92 blocks this past season while posting a hitting percentage of .333, leading the Falcons (20-5) to the Class LL state championship match. A Class LL First Team All-State and Senior All-Star Game selection as named by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association, McCafrey averaged 5.8 kills, 5.4 digs, 1.2 service aces and 1.1 blocks per game this fall. She produced 25 kills, seven blocks and six digs in the 3-2 Class LL state title loss to Greenwich, capturing state tournament Most Valuable Player honors.

McCafrey has maintained a 3.63 GPA in the classroom. In addition to donating her time locally to a retirement home, a soup kitchen and a holiday gift-giving campaign, she has volunteered on behalf of the American Field Service Intercultural Programs, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life

"She was amazing," said Fairfield Ludlowe Head Coach Meghan Skelton. "She's the main reason we made it as far as we did. She carried our team. She's phenomenal, not only as a player but as a leader. She's really a phenomenal athlete. She's just a coach's dream. She came into her senior year so motivated and in incredible shape. She did everything we asked her to do and more."

McCafrey remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.